At least 40 people were killed and over 100 injured when serial blasts ripped through busy areas of Mumbai on Monday afternoon. As panic spread in Mumbai, initial reports said there had been four explosions in a haunting replay of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts after the Babri Masjid demolition. But authorities maintained there were two blasts, at the crowded Mumba Devi temple and the Gateway of India areas. Efforts were on to ascertain whether there had also been a blast at Marine Lines. Maharashtra Home Minister Rajendra Darda said there were two blasts, one of them in the parking lot of the Taj Hotel and the other at Zaveri Bazaar. Both bombs, he said, had been placed in taxis. The injured have been taken to King George's Hospital and JJ Hospital. Authorities have appealed for blood donation. Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal has meanwhile called a high-level meeting on security and the entire state has been put on red alert. National capital Delhi and other major cities in the country too have been put on high alert. Vehicles are being checked and people have been warned to exercise caution. Shaken eyewitnesses said this was the worst-ever such incident in Mumbai. Monday's incidents were shockingly reminiscent of the March 12, 1993 serial blasts, when 257 people died and 713 were injured. Twelve blasts had hit the city between 1.28 and 3.35 pm in the wake of heavy rioting after the Babri Masjid demolition. Monday's blasts took place minutes after the Archaeological Survey of India claimed in a Lucknow court that it had found remains of a temple during its excavation at the disputed Babri Masjid Ram Janambhoomi site in Ayodhya. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Mosque in Bombay